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20. Rory

20

Rory

R ory ran his hand from her shoulder, down her body to her hip, and then back up to her waist. Savvy traced her fingertips lightly along his arm, as they lay tangled together, trying to catch their breaths.

“That was…so amazing,” she said, sighing contentedly.

He chuckled and pulled her just a little bit closer to him. “We have some pretty great chemistry.”

Savvy grinned at him and gently touched his face. “Definitely. There is just something about you. I guess you’re just irresistible.”

“I think it was the ice cream. I’m glad that you thought to pick it up before we came upstairs. It would be a big mess if we had left it,” Rory said.

“There would have been a big mess if we hadn’t come upstairs,” Savvy said. “I doubt that Rosa would appreciate even the hint of any type of sex happening in the kitchen.”

“Well, next time we happen to be in there, and you just happen to be sitting on the counter or bent over it, we’ll have to make sure that we clean up really well after ourselves. I hear that bleach is great for covering up any trace of bodily fluids,” Rory said.

“She would know. I think that woman is a psychic sometimes.”

Rory laughed and said, “She just might be.”

He noticed that Savvy didn’t blink an eye at the thought that they would be having more sexual encounters in the future.

“You are very special,” he said, staring into her deep blue eyes.

She grinned. “Thank you. So are you.”

Rory hesitated. He wanted to tell her that he had feelings for her and that he wanted to see where their relationship might go. Rory was well aware that Savvy had feelings for him. He was even willing to admit that he knew she was falling in love with him. If he was honest with himself, he was falling in love with her, too. He just didn’t know what to say or how to say it.

He had always heard that a person should never talk about their feelings right after sex because the hormones were still high. Rory wouldn’t want to confess to Savvy that he cared about her and have her say it back when, in reality, it was just the high from the sex. He decided that he would talk to her later about it, one night when the kids were in bed, and they had a few minutes alone, and he was on the other side of the room keeping his hands to himself – which seemed to be nearly impossible lately.

“I guess I’d better get back to my room. I need rest so that I can keep up with those energetic Tasmanian devils tomorrow.”

He pressed a gentle kiss against her lips. “Sweet dreams.”

“You, too.”

Rory cleaned himself off and then got back into bed. He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. Her scent seemed to drift in the night air and sweeten his sheets and pillows. Images of her smile, laughter, and her interaction with the kids filled his mind. His heart beat a little faster when he thought of how she felt in his arms or even when they had a conversation.

He thought about what his mother and brother said. Maybe Savvy was his fated mate.

Can I see spending the rest of my life with her? Could I live with waking up every morning and seeing her face as soon as I open my eyes?

He thought about those questions, and the answer was a simple “yes.”

Where do we go from here? Do I tell her that I really like her and want to be in a relationship with her and see where we go from here? That leaves an option open for failure, which would hurt the kids.

Deep down inside, though, Rory knew that their relationship wouldn’t end in failure. They would continue growing together, creating a family unit that he and the kids had always wanted.

He made up his mind that he would have a conversation with Savvy in the next day or so, and they would take everything slow and easy. Since he made a decision, he was able to sleep peacefully.

Rory was up early the next morning and was getting ready to leave when the kids stumbled into the kitchen.

“Can we go for a run?” Cat asked.

“No, I’m sorry. I have to go to court this morning, baby girl. You and your brother can chase each other around in circles in the yard.”

“Okay.” She sighed.

He hugged the kids, touched Savvy’s arm, and smiled at her. She grinned back, and he got into his truck with a light heart.

Rory met with his client at the police station in one of the interrogation rooms. He represented a man who was accused of killing his wife and her lover when he got home and caught them in bed together.

“I could plead temporary insanity. You know, I walked in on them, lost my shit, and killed them. It’s not like I tried to run or cover up my crime. As soon as I was done, I put my gun on the kitchen table and called the police,” he said.

“We could, but the district attorney would tear your plea to pieces. You suspected for quite some time that your wife and neighbor had a fling going on. That would give her the chance to argue premeditation. New Mexico doesn’t execute people, but you could face life in prison.”

“What should I do?”

Rory looked at the paperwork in front of him and said, “The district attorney is offering two counts of voluntary manslaughter.”

“How much prison time would I get?”

“She is offering four years for each count to be served concurrently.”

“Four years?” the man asked anxiously.

“It’s better than taking your chances in front of a jury and risk getting two life sentences to be served consecutively. That means when you die in prison, they resurrect you, and then you start all over again.”

The man didn’t smile at Rory’s attempt at humor.

“You could also potentially qualify for early release for good behavior. But it could well go either way,” Rory said.

“I’ll take it,” the man said and signed the papers.

Rory took the papers over to Sonia. She sighed heavily and said, “I’m not going to enjoy notifying the family. They wanted to go all the way.”

“I know,” Rory said. “Do you think that a jury would have found him guilty of first-degree murder?”

“No. I think they would have either found him guilty of manslaughter or acquitted him altogether. I’ll explain that to the families.”

Rory grinned at her and said, “I don’t envy you your job.”

“Me either, sometimes. Are you by any chance free for lunch?”

“Sorry. I am involved with someone else.”

“Lucky woman,” Sonia said.

He got back to the office and had just finished the sandwich he ordered for lunch when he heard a commotion in the front lobby.

“Where is that son of a bitch,” a man yelled loudly. “Get the fuck out of my way and tell me where that son of a bitch is.”

“Sir, please calm down,” Mary Ann said.

Rory rushed out of his office and into the front. “What’s going on here?”

“Are you Rory Garner?” the man growled.

“I am.”

“My name is Peter Gerig. You protected that bastard who murdered my brother.”

“I know this must be upsetting for you,” Rory said. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Not as sorry as you’re going to be. You helped that murderer get off practically scot-free. You’re going to find out what it’s like to lose someone you love. Mark my words,” Peter said, pointing his finger at Rory.

“Are you threatening me?”

“I’m promising you,” he said and stormed out the door.

“Do you think he’s going to come after you?” Mary Ann asked worriedly.

“I don’t know. People say a lot of things in anger and in grief,” Rory said. “Just to be on the safe side, make sure that security walks you out to your car every night and that you call security to come out to your car in the mornings to walk you inside.”

“I will,” she said. Then, she grinned at him. “Maybe we could hire Sebastian to be my personal bodyguard.”

“I will have him assign someone to watch your back and your house for a while if you want me to,” Rory said.

“I only want Sebastian,” Mary Ann insisted.

“Let me know if you change your mind.” Laughing, Rory went back to his office.

About an hour later, Rory got a phone call from another incensed family member. It was the female victim’s father.

“I just want you to know that you haven’t saved that rotten asshole. I know people, and he won’t survive those four years in prison. You probably won’t, either. He is a murderer, and you are just as guilty for getting him off with a slap on the wrist.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Rory said. “Please don’t do anything drastic that will get you in trouble with the law.”

“She was my only child. What do I care,” the man growled before he hung up.

Rory leaned back in his chair. It wasn’t the first time he received death threats. He finished up some paperwork and headed home.

Colby greeted him as he walked in the door. “I was just about to call you.”

“Why? What’s up?”

“We’ve had some visitors,” Colby said. “I smelled a scent that didn’t belong when Savvy and the pups went outside this afternoon. I patrolled the area but didn’t see anyone. She took them back inside the house, but later on, I went back outside and at least one person was standing just inside the wood line. I don’t know who it was because they ran off in human form as I approached.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” Rory said.

He went upstairs and traded his suit for jeans and a T-shirt, then called Sebastian.

“Colby said that someone was lurking around the house today. I got some death threats from a couple of family members today. My client killed his wife and her lover, and he pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and got four years prison time.”

“I could see why the victims’ family would be upset,” Sebastian said. “It could also be the Silver Fangs paying you another social call.”

“That’s my thought. I was wondering if I could hire a couple of people to hang around the house during the day to help Colby watch over Savvy and the kids.”

“Sure. I’ll have them come by at eight. Is eight to eight good?”

“Yeah, the pups don’t go outside after that,” Rory said. “By the way, I asked Mary Ann if she would like a bodyguard for the next few days until tempers cooled down. She said only if she could have you.”

Sebastian laughed. “I only go in the field for the really fun stuff – you know, like rescuing a princess from the Congo or something like that. Otherwise, I do paperwork and cybersecurity. Tell her to look me up if her identity gets stolen.”

“Be careful. She might hire someone to steal her identity if she could get close to you.”

Sebastian laughed, and they ended the call.

That evening, after Drake and Cat were in bed, Rory pulled Savvy aside and explained the situation to her. “Please let the guards know when you take the kids outside. They should be posted by the back door or roaming around the yard, so they won’t be hard to find.”

“I will do that,” she said. “I’ll also change the schedule around so that it’s not so predictable.”

“Good idea,” Rory said. “You’re a trooper for dealing with this.”

“I love those kids as though they were my own. I’ll die before I let anything happen to them,” Savvy said fiercely. Rory knew that she meant every word of that.

“I’ll fly around and be on high alert as well. No one is going to get close to those babies,” Cassia said.

“Thank you,” Rory said.

It’s going to take me a while to get used to an immortal dragonfly who speaks human language out loud.

Cassia laughed and Rory looked at her, wondering if she’d just read his thoughts.

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